In the epilogue which follows directly after Caesar becomes a god, Ovid similarly asserts that he himself will live beyond his body’s decay as a posthumously famous poet. Venus gets around this problem by memorializing Julius Caesar as a god after he dies, thereby reasserting her dominance over the force of time. However, Ovid notably presents certain workarounds for the inexorability of time and fate. In this way, time and fate, by propelling human characters and the universe towards certain fixed ends, assert themselves as the true driving forces of the universe. These moments of the gods’ futility suggest that even they, the creators of the universe, must contend with the fact that the world they created cannot resist the march of time. Later, when Venus hears that Julius Caesar is to be betrayed and murdered, she tries to save his life, but Jupiter reminds her that his death is already written on the tablets of Fate. On occasions when gods try to alter a character’s age, Jupiter reminds them that only Fate has control over age.

However, Ovid’s work presents other forces over which the gods themselves have no control. In this way, it seems that the gods are responsible for the universe, especially as they go on to have a huge influence over the world’s affairs. In the first chapter of the Metamorphoses, Ovid describes the world as a jumble of indistinct parts “called Chaos.” The gods give order to this chaos by sorting out the elements by their weight and qualities.

Book 15: The Apotheosis of Julius Caesar.Book 14: The Mutinous Companions of Diomedes.Book 14: Macareus’ Story: Picus, Canens and Circe.Book 14: Macareus’ Story: Ulysses and Circe.Book 14: Achaemenides’ Story: Ulysses’ Men in Polyphemus’ Cave.Book 12: The Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.Book 11: Peleus at the Court of Ceyx (2).Book 11: Peleus at the Court of Ceyx (1).Book 10: Orpheus’ Song: Venus and Adonis (2).Book 10: Venus’ Story: Atalanta and Hippomenes.Book 10: Orpheus’ Song: Venus and Adonis (1).Book 10: Orpheus’ Song: The Cerastae and Propoetides.Book 8: Achelous, the Naiads and Perimele.Book 8: Meleager and the Calydonian Boar.Book 5: Calliope’s Song: Triptolemus and Lyncus.

Poet of metamorphoses